Dustin Rhodes

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Loss]

Dustin has primarily worked in an era where pulp TV matches that are meant to be disposable have become commonplace. He peaked early in 90s WCW which had too much television. He peaked late in 10s WWE which has too much television. So he's the master of the good match to fill television time. I think there's an argument that he's the most consistent TV match wrestler of the past quarter century, which sounds like hyperbole until you really think about it. The knock on him would be that there's no classic 30-minute world title match epic on his resume, but it's hard for me to come down too hard on him for that because he's never been asked to fill that role at all. Still, I think it's a feather that the other contenders will likely have in their cap that he won't.

[tim]

He's in my top 50. Whenever anyone can say they were clearly the best wrestler in the world for a not-insignificant period of time, that gives them some solid all-time cred in my book, and during his 2013 return run he was clearly the best wrestler in the world. His 2009 run was also brilliant, carrying really awesome TV matches with Ezekiel Jackson and a green Sheamus. His 2002/2003 RAW run was awesome and the match where he and Booker win the tag titles on RAW is one of my favorite WWE tags ever (in fact, that match and both 2013 Rhodes vs. Shield tags ... you could convince me those are the top 3 WWE tags ever). Then we have his WCW run, incredible tag work and some really awesome singles performances, most notably vs. Arn and Vader.

 

Dustin is one of the big "what if?"s for me. If he had kept himself in good shape and stayed with WWE throughout the 2000s, been a solid Jericho-level guy and gotten high level feuds and opportunities for big singles matches over the last 14 years when WWE's emphasis on ring work shot up, would we be talking about a top 20 of all time guy?

[goodhelmet]

Easily in my Top 100 but I gotta figure out where. His little indy run helped him in my view. Loved the match with Sami Callahan. Mentioned on the NOC recap that he may be one of the Top 5 tag wrestlers of all time.

[Lee Casebolt]

Right outside my top ten at the moment, which is almost certainly too high. Along with Barry Windham, probably the premier "what if" guy for me. If a couple booking decisions change and he keeps his shit together over the years, I feel like he's someone who could have been in the conversation for #1 overall.

[Alan4L]

Dustin has primarily worked in an era where pulp TV matches that are meant to be disposable have become commonplace. He peaked early in 90s WCW which had too much television. He peaked late in 10s WWE which has too much television. So he's the master of the good match to fill television time. I think there's an argument that he's the most consistent TV match wrestler of the past quarter century, which sounds like hyperbole until you really think about it. The knock on him would be that there's no classic 30-minute world title match epic on his resume, but it's hard for me to come down too hard on him for that because he's never been asked to fill that role at all. Still, I think it's a feather that the other contenders will likely have in their cap that he won't.

 

Granted he was 1 of 10 involved but he was in the 92 War Games from the start and that may be the best WCW match ever. His performance was incredible.

[Tim Cooke]

Dustin is absolutely awesome in the War Games match. Windham, Austin, Arn, and Dustin are the glue to that match, not to take anything away from Steamboat or Rude.

[Grimmas]

He's still cranking out awesome matches at this point, so he could move up and up from here.

[Matt D]

He's still cranking out awesome matches at this point, so he could move up and up from here.

 

I think the major thing the next few months might do for Dustin is give him a bit more meaningful heel work. That's the biggest hole in his resume. I don't think his late 95 work holds up very well. His 96 does somewhat better, especially once he really got the heel character down, with his ladder match with Michaels one of my favorite Michaels matches from that year. After that, there's really just 98, and his run vs RVD which is better not mentioned (likewise: Black Reign, though if they'd given him something other than garbage work during that run it'd be interesting to see what he could do as bloated as he was). If he gets to hold the tag titles for a few months now, it might be just what he needs, really.

[goodhelmet]

I have come to the realization that I will not hold anybody's TNA work against them. Not Dustin, Flair, Foley, Joe.

[Matt D]

I don't think his TNA work is bad from what I've seen. it's just that he wasn't put in the right situations to show us anything meaningful one way or another. If he had a non-garbage singles match that got any time, I'd like to see that.

[BigBadMick]

I have come to the realization that I will not hold anybody's TNA work against them. Not Dustin, Flair, Foley, Joe.

That's good of you.....

 

It's a positive for me in a lot of cases.

[BillThompson]

Will be placing very high on my list. During my Network PPV rewatch project I've been very impressed with his 1992-1996 WCW run, to the point where in 1994 he may very well have been the best wrestler in the world. His Goldust run is borderline for me, at least until his most recent comeback, when he went back to being one of the best wrestlers in the world.

[Grimmas]

How high are people going on Dustin? Best in the world at various points from 94 to 2013. Although lots of shit mixed in there when he was bad on drugs with horrible gimmicks. I think 25 looks like a good spot.

[Childs]

I have him at 47 though I don't think he was ever best in the world. Maybe briefly during his last run when the worlwide quality was suspect. Anyhow, if he had a 10-year run the quality of his best years, he'd be top 20.

[Matt D]

He'll be in my top 20.

[Childs]

He'll be in my top 20.

Eclipsing the entire country of Japan.

[Matt D]

He is defeating Mr. Saito (aka, the entire country of Japan), yes. Both the UK and Mexico have an edge on him.

[Jimmy Redman]

He'll be WAY lower than where lot of other people seem to have him, but I can't not include him.

 

I've liked what I've seen from early 90s WCW, I like the Booker run in 2002, and I love his 2013 run with Cody. Really good tag team worker, really good babyface worker, really good TV worker. He's great at timing and peaking the hot tag just right.

[JerryvonKramer]

Has probably got to the point where he's a wee bit overrated.

[Parties]

Great longevity - I have him as more of a top 70 guy as I'm not as high on the early 90s WCW run as some, but he's had periods from 2008 on where he's been the best worker in WWE, which is really impressive given who that covers. Rhodes Brothers tag team is sorely needed right now.

[elliott]

I voted Dustin Rhodes 53rd in 2016 and I feel just fine about that. Just checks all the boxes. Good right away. Great shortly thereafter. Has a dip in quality, but at the same time developed one of the most enduring gimmicks of his generation. Dips again because of personal problems but then comes back with a vengeance and becomes a top level wrestler again. Had all the tools in the world. All of the advantages and disadvantages that come with being Dusty Rhodes' kid. But no matter who's kid he was he was a great wrestler. 

[Boss Rock]

Dustin had bucket loads of talent and he's still good to this day in AEW. But the stretches and gaps in his career are pretty big. I want to see a bit more of his early 2010's stuff as I understand that's always been held in high regard (I've already seen the tag matches with Cody against the Shield which are great). 

[KB8]

I had Dustin at number 40 in 2016. That might've been a few spots too high, but he's not someone I've really thought about for a while now so maybe I've just forgotten how awesome he was. I love the WCW run. In my head I've always associated Halloween Havoc '91 and the match with Austin as the point where it kicked fully into gear for him and he was pretty much excellent for the next three and a half years before he left. In 1992 he already felt fully formed as a babyface and one of the best tag wrestlers in forever, and in 1994 with the Stud Stable feud I think you could make a decent case that he was the best wrestler in America. The Goldust run never produced a whole bunch of great matches - certainly his volume of Good Wrestling Matches dried up after leaving WCW - but the character work was always crazy fun. Feels like every time I watched him in the 2010s he was pretty great, usually in tags as once again maybe the best tag wrestler in the world (and I still haven't seen the Rhodes Brothers/Shield match from Battleground 2013). His end-days WCW run was mired in a whole bunch of hokey Russo shoot horse shit but the Funk feud was, I shit you not, the greatest thing in the history of our great sport. The Uncensored match is amazing and Funk wearing frozen chickens on his hands as boxing gloves is one of the defining moments of the era but then I suppose I'll save that for when I get to the Funk thread. I may be a low voter on the Cody match in AEW, but I still thought it was really good and definitely something that bolsters his case. Plus every candidate needs a proper old man/woman performance to really round out their candidacy! Prolly. 

 

DUSTIN RHODES YOU SHOULD WATCH:

w/Ricky Steamboat v Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko (WCW Clash of the Champions XVII, 11/19/91)

w/Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff v Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko & Bobby Eaton (WCW Saturday Night, 5/23/92)

v Bunkhouse Buck (WCW Spring Stampede, 4/17/94)

v Vader (WCW Clash of the Champions XXIX, 11/16/94)

v Cody Rhodes (AEW Double of Nothing, 5/25/19)

[joeg]

His AEW run and the WWE TV matches in 2017 and 2018 will bump him up for me.